Variety of Procreative Behavior Types Among the Major Ethnic Groups of Dagestan

The paper attempts to look deeper into the problem of procreative behavior creation in Dagestan, Russian Federation. The author distinguishes two types of procreative behavior: traditional and modernized. Both types are interchangeable across all areas under study: Levashinsky district, Khasavyurtovsky district, Kizlyarsky district and Sulak as urban village of Makhachkala, where the majority of people belong to the main ethnic groups of Dagestan: Avars and Dargins. Except for them, there are Russians who are the main minority group among those who have settled there since the beginning of 20-th century. Sulak can be considered as a special case under study because there is a big percent of interethnic marriage of which the marriage between Russians and Nogais are on the forefront. The results show that typology of procreative behavior can be presented in all settlements under study regardless of ethnic origins. However, Dargins are more likely to show traditional type of procreative behavior, while Avars show more modernized behavior. The procreative behavior of Russians proved controversial. On the one hand, the birth of the first children are taking place ever earlier in life, average age of the birth of the first child is steadily decreasing. All those things are evidence of traditionalism. On the other hand, we can observe considerable childlessness growth that may indicate some degree of modernization. In general, Russians show rather dissimilatory procreative behavior than too adaptive in the line with ethnic majority, except for interethnic marriage.